The Bystander Effect Still Haunts Us — Especially Online

Most people are familiar with the bystander effect — but do you know where it originated, how it was misunderstood, and why it matters more than ever in cybersecurity?

In 1964, Kitty Genovese was tragically murdered in New York. Early news reports claimed that dozens of neighbours saw or heard parts of the attack and failed to intervene. That narrative shocked the public and spurred decades of psychological research — including Darley and Latané’s now-famous studies on the bystander effect: the more people who witness a crisis, the less likely any one person is to step in.

Later investigations showed the original story wasn’t entirely accurate — some neighbours did try to help or call the police — but the core idea stuck. And in today’s digital world, it’s disturbingly relevant.

Take cybersecurity. We’re surrounded by alerts, signals, and suspicious events. Burnout is real. And in this overloaded context, the bystander effect quietly creeps in:

1. We ignore anomalies — not out of apathy, but because of alert fatigue or cognitive overload.

2. Even when we do flag something, we often assume someone else will follow up. But sometimes, no one does.

The context may be different — but in cybersecurity, silence can still carry serious consequences.